Ashes To Ashes
by RisemboolRanger
Summary: Everyone knows there's no such thing as a good Darklighter. Blake's led a miserable life as one, never fitting in anywhere. Yet she somehow ends up catching the eye of the Charmed Ones. Though earning their trust is one thing... Winning over their Whitelighter is something else altogether. Chris/OC
1. Not Much of a Hunt

"I've got a job for you," announced Chris, walking into the lounge.

"Chris, this is the first time demons have left us alone in months. Why should we have to do chores for you whilst we're actually getting some time off?" Phoebe complained.

"Because it's not a chore for me - it's for everybody," explained Chris. "You're supposed to protect people from evil. You can't do that if you're taking a break."

"We spend practically every day of our lives protecting people," Piper pointed out. "Are you telling us that you're gonna make us work when we get the first break from it all in months?"

"Well... yeah," admitted Chris. "This is what I came back from the future for after all."

"Fine," agreed Piper reluctantly, the first to concede that they probably weren't going to win this argument. At least they'd gotten away with two months off from hunting demons. "What do you want us to do?"

"Well, you know that everything's been really quiet recently. So me and Leo have decided that now's a good time to try and get rid of any demons that might cause us problems in the future," explained Chris. "We thought you should tackle the Darklighters first."

Paige nodded. "I see where you're coming from. That'll be good for Whitelighters at least. Darklighters are the only real problem for them."

"Hang on, I thought you guys couldn't track Darklighters?" Phoebe reminded them.

"We couldn't before, but Leo's found a way that we can," said Chris, holding up a small black bottle that had been partly concealed behind his back. "I managed to get this from what you'd call the demons' black market. It's Darklighter poison. You can use that to scry for them."

"But won't that only find us one Darklighter?" pointed out Paige. "What about the rest of them?"

"This bottle's full - it can't have all come from one arrow. Every time you use it to scry with, hopefully you'll find a different Darklighter," said Chris.

"Gotcha. Alright then, let me have the poison and I'll get started on the scrying," said Paige, getting up off the couch.

"Wait a minute, Paige. You're part Whitelighter, so I don't think you should handle the poison," said Piper.

"Aww, come on, I'll be fine," insisted Paige. "I'll wear gloves if it makes you feel better."

"No, I agree with Piper," said Phoebe. "One of us will do the scrying. And I don't think you should come with us to vanquish the Darklighters either."

"What? That's not fair; you can't make me sit at home and do nothing," complained Paige. "And you'll need me to orb you around anyway."

"Okay, good point," Piper agreed reluctantly. "You can help vanquish the Darklighters, but Phoebe and I will do the scrying."

Paige smiled. "I guess I'll take it."

"Great," Chris enthused. "Let me know if you guys have any luck."

Not long after that, following their first successful scrying from the Darklighter poison, the three young witches appeared in a swirl of white lights downtown, finding themselves outside a large old house. All of the windows were boarded up and a wild thicket of bushes had grown across the path, blocking access to the front door. It looked like it hadn't been used in a long time.

"How are we gonna get in?" asked Phoebe. "It's all boarded up."

"I could orb us in," suggested Paige.

Piper shook her head. "We don't know exactly where we'd be orbing into. For all we know, we could end up appearing in the middle of a Darklighter tea party. Not the best scenario for us."

"So what now then?" asked Phoebe.

"I could always blast the door off," Piper continued.

"That was going to be my Plan B," Paige grinned. "Let's go."

They made their way up the front path, stopping several paces away from the door. One of Piper's powers was molecular combustion, which caused objects and even certain demons to explode. Double checking around the quiet street to make sure that the coast was clear, she raised her hands and blew the door clean off its hinges. They stepped cautiously inside and stopped in the hallway.

The three sisters suddenly shared the same thought that maybe this was a dead end after all. The house didn't seem to have been lived in for years. A thick layer of dust coated everything in sight, giving the interior a very creepy decor job. It was clearly an old building too - the floorboards creaked loudly with every footstep.

"This place is a dive," Paige commented quietly, the eerie house making her feel the need to lower her voice.

"Somehow I'm not sure this is what we're looking for..." Phoebe agreed.

No sooner had the words left her mouth, there was suddenly a loud crash of a door banging open upstairs and a young woman came hurtling down the staircase, her eyes ablaze. She was pale skinned and painfully thin with shoulder-length, grubby looking black hair and faded blue tattoos decorating both of her bony arms. She seemed to move in an oddly stiff manner, as if her joints didn't work properly.

"I thought I made it clear that I'm not doing deals with anyone!" she bellowed. "Just leave me _alone_!"

She picked up a dusty china pot from the sideboard behind her and hurled it at the three witches. Piper threw out her hands to use her freezing power, intending to freeze both the pot and the girl. The china pot stopped in mid-air, but it didn't seem to have an effect on the girl. She turned and grabbed an equally dusty vase, launching that as well.

"Vase!" called Paige, holding out her hand.

The vase disappeared amongst a flurry of white lights and reappeared in Paige's outstretched hand. She threw it back at the girl, who orbed out of the room in a swirl of black lights, where it then smashed against the wall that had been behind her.

"Okay... why won't she freeze?" asked Piper, relenting her power so that the frozen china pot fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

"I don't know," replied Phoebe. "You've frozen Darklighters before. Maybe she's a more powerful one?"

"She didn't really act the way I'd expect a Darklighter to," Paige pointed out. "She didn't seem interested in fighting - just getting us to leave."

"What do you think she meant when she said she didn't want to make deals with anyone?" Phoebe enquired.

"I have no idea... But whilst we're here, we may as well find out," Piper decided. "Come on, let's search the house."

They made their way through the creaky house and found the girl sat in a dark corner in one of the rooms upstairs. This room was just as dreary as the rest of the house - the barest amount of sunlight streaking inside in thin lines through the boarded up window. The girl herself blended in with the decor. Close to, they could see that her clothes, hair and even her skin were covered in a thin layer of dust like everything else was.

"Go away," she said shortly, hugging her knees protectively, barely even looking up. "I don't want to fight. Just leave me alone."

"Well, we're not here to fight either," said Piper. "But we do have a few questions." She closed the door behind them to show that they weren't leaving. The girl glared at her, but she didn't try to move.

"I already said I'm not making any deals," she repeated.

"That's okay; that's not what we're here for either."

The girl frowned at her suspiciously, her gaze then moving between Paige and Phoebe. "Then what do you want?"

"Call us nosy," said Piper lightly. "Like I said, we just want to ask you a few questions."

The girl's stony expression flickered only slightly. "Like what?"

"Who's been trying to make deals with you?" questioned Phoebe. "What kind of deals are we talking here?"

The girl still regarded them suspiciously, but she conceded to answer Phoebe's questions. "Demons mostly. They want to hire me as a mercenary."

"And what do they offer you in return?" asked Piper.

"A higher place in the hierarchy of evil," answered the girl monotonously.

"And... you don't want that?" enquired Paige, catching onto her blank tone. The girl shook her head. "Why not?"

"You're asking me some real personal questions right now," the girl accused. "What are you even doing here?"

"If you want the truth, then we came here to vanquish you," said Piper bluntly, feeling that the girl was in no position to be arguing.

However, her reaction was not what any of them were expecting. She didn't move - she didn't even try to fight back. She just sat there, eyes wide. "I don't understand... I won't work for any of you, so you're going to kill me instead?"

"Let's not get mixed up here," said Phoebe. "We're not demons; we're witches."

A confused frown crossed the girl's face. "Witches? But what did I ever do to you?"

"Actually Darklighters as a whole present a big problem to us and our Whitelighters," said Piper more calmly than she felt. She wasn't so sure anymore that she could vanquish this Darklighter girl. She didn't seem to have posed a threat to them - she didn't really seem to be much of a threat to anyone. And from the glances her sisters gave her, she was guessing that they felt the same.

"So because I'm a Darklighter, I have to be taken out, even though I've never done anything to anyone?" the girl protested angrily, finally showing a bit of fight. "I'm not _like_ other Darklighters - why should I get thrown in with the rest of them? If I was just like all the others, then do you really think I'd spend my life sitting in the dark on my own, gathering dust? Isn't that bad enough? All I want is for everyone to just leave me alone!"

Paige had been mostly silent throughout the whole thing, but she finally stepped forward once the girl stopped shouting. "Well, if you guys aren't going to do this, then I am."

"Paige..." Piper cautioned her as she moved towards the girl. Though the young Darklighter had come across as harmless so far, she could still pose quite a serious threat to her sister as half Whitelighter.

But Paige ignored her and stopped in front of the girl, crouching down before her. The Darklighter may have been enraged by the idea of being lumped in with the rest of her kind, but her sense of self-preservation didn't seem to amount to anything more than angry protests. She watched Paige through narrowed eyes as she approached before closing them, seemingly in acceptance. What nobody expected was for Paige to then reach out and ruffle the girl's hair back, dispersing the dust into the air.

"How long have you even been sat here?" she chastised her, continuing to brush away the dust. "You're covered in dust."

If her sisters were surprised, then it was nothing compared to the look on the Darklighter's face. She opened her eyes again in astonishment. "Um, I don't know..." she said, not seeming to realise that the question was rhetorical. "A year? Maybe two. I don't really keep track."

"You mean you've been sat in that corner for two years?" Phoebe asked incredulously.

"Well, I get up and move around sometimes," said the girl, uncomfortable with the change of subject. "But kind of, yeah." It was true that the corner she was sitting in wasn't quite as dusty as the rest of the room. The sisters processed this information in amazement.

"Do you even eat?" Piper questioned, feeling safe enough to approach as well. Her motherly instincts kicked in as she registered just how painfully thin the girl really was.

She shrugged. "Sometimes."

"What's your name?" Paige asked her.

The girl seemed hesitant to reply. "...Blake. Blake Rodriguez."

"Where's your family? Are you here by yourself?" Paige asked, more kindly.

Blake looked a little taken aback but she nodded. "Just me. No one else."

"Paige, can I talk to you for a minute?" Phoebe cut in. "Piper, you too."

Paige straightened up and did as she was asked. Blake seemed neither happy nor sad to be left to herself. She watched as they huddled together in an opposite corner of the room, but made no attempt to move or even listen in on their conversation. Even so, the sisters still kept their voices down.

"We're not really going to vanquish her, are we?" Paige hissed.

"Of course not!" replied Piper. "I'm not about to vanquish a girl who does nothing more than spending all her time sitting in a dusty corner."

"So what are we going to do with her?" asked Phoebe, glancing back at Blake, who was now staring at the toes of her battered grey Converse that had probably once been black.

"What do you mean 'do with her'?" Piper repeated.

"Come on Piper, are you really going to just happily go back home and not think of her here by herself in this lonely house?" Paige pointed out. "I mean, you just said it by yourself; all she does is just sit in that corner."

"Well, what do you want to do; bring her home with us?" said Piper sceptically. "I have my own baby to worry about. One - I might add - that is apparently in danger of turning evil at some point in his life."

"But we can't just leave her here," Paige protested. "Look at her - I doubt she'd even be a threat to anyone. She could barely even walk properly when she came down the stairs."

"Maybe we could take her back to the manor for now and then decide what to do with her," Phoebe suggested. "We might be able to find someone who can watch over her for a while."

"Somehow, I don't think we'll find anyone who'll house a stray Darklighter for us," said Piper dryly.

"Do you reckon there's demon social workers?" Phoebe thought aloud. "She said she's the only one here, so maybe she doesn't have a family at all..."

"Because she's a _Darklighter_," said Piper. "Her parents probably got themselves vanquished by demons or killed each other."

"Come on, it's not like we haven't done this before," Paige reminded her. "Remember the manticore baby that we took in?"

"Yes, that was a _baby_," replied Piper. "This girl's gotta be nineteen, twenty? I'm guessing she'll be a lot less impressionable at this age. And even with the baby I'd had my misgivings about it."

"She doesn't seem very evil to me," said Paige, looking back over her shoulder at Blake. "She certainly didn't seem interested in being a part of the demon hierarchy."

"But Paige, we don't know her. We can't trust what she says," said Piper. "I'm sorry, but I don't want her in the manor. Seeing as we just recently learnt that my own _son_ is the evil that threatens the rest of the world in the future, I just can't risk exposing him to anyone that could possibly turn him."

"Well, I doubt that she's the one who turns Wyatt evil in the future," Paige countered. "Think about it; we probably wouldn't haven't gone Darklighter hunting if it hadn't been for Chris... So if Chris hadn't come back from the future, then we never would have found her, right?"

"Why is it that I instantly get a headache every time someone starts talking about the future?" Piper complained.

"Because time travel's confusing?"

Piper sighed and turned to Phoebe. "You're really with Paige on this one?"

Phoebe looked solemn. "I just think we should get her out of here at least long enough to decide what to do with her. Just look at her... She looks practically half starved. I know that, as a mother, you can't ignore that."

"Urgh." It really sucked having an empath for a sister sometimes. "Hold on... You can sense something from her, can't you?" When Phoebe didn't say anything, she pressed on. "What is it? What can you sense?"

"She's scared," said Phoebe sadly. "Not to mention lonely. So lonely... And tired. She's fed up of everything."

Piper fought to keep anything from showing on her face. "You really don't think she's a threat."

She made it more of a statement than a question, but Phoebe still shook her head. "I don't know if she can hide some of her feelings from me or not, but from what I can sense, I don't think she's got an evil bone in her body."

Piper looked towards her other sister. "Paige, you're half Whitelighter. She's more of a threat to you than she is to us, but you seem pretty adamant about her. Are you sure about this?"

Paige nodded firmly. "I am. I don't know what it is, but she... she reminds me of me. When I was a teenager, I never knew my parents. I felt abandoned and lonely as hell. I never felt I fit in anywhere. And my guess is that for a Darklighter who doesn't want anything to do with evil, like she says she does? She must feel the same. And that makes her an innocent, no matter what's in her blood."

Piper trusted her sisters' judgement more than anything. And as a mother, she trusted her own gut too. Her family was her first priority and she wanted more than anything to protect her son, Wyatt. But those mother's instincts couldn't ignore how agonisingly thin Blake was or how stiffly she moved. If Phoebe and Paige's guesses were correct, then she was nothing more than a lonely teenager who had been born into the wrong life. And as the Charmed Ones, it was their job to protect innocents.

The Halliwell family had had more than their share of hardships, but if there was one thing Piper had never known, it was loneliness. After their dad had left, after the deaths of their mother and Grams, even after Prue... She'd still always had her sisters. Darklighter or not, this girl didn't appear to have anyone.

Piper sighed. "Chris is gonna freak when he finds out he sent us to hunt Darklighters and that we've brought one home instead."

Her sisters both smiled. "Oh, boohoo," said Paige. "We can deal with Chris later. One problem at a time here."

"Right. Let's deal with the first one," agreed Piper, raising her voice again and crossing the room back towards Blake, who watched her warily. She held out her hand. "Come on..."

Blake regarded her hand suspiciously. "What?"

"Let's get you out of here."

Blake's expression shifted as she backed away defensively. Fear filled her hazel eyes. "Where are you taking me?"

Piper took in her eyes and the protective stance. When she replied, it was much more gently. "For now, to our home."

Blake glanced from one sister to the next. "I don't understand..."

"We figured you should get you out of this place," Paige commented lightly. "Dust really isn't good for you, y'know. We'll help find you somewhere nicer - somewhere with a bit more sunlight."

Blake's eyes widened disbelievingly. "You mean... You're helping me? I won't have to stay here anymore?"

"That's what we're saying," Phoebe smiled.

Blake looked between them again, her gaze then settling back on Piper, whose hand was still outstretched. "But... why?" she asked softly. "Why would you help someone like me?"

Piper didn't go into detail of the discussion she and her sisters had just had. Instead, she simply said, "Because if magic has taught us anything, it's that not everything is so black and white."

Blake stared, then abruptly lowered her gaze. "Thank you..." Her voice threatened to crack on those two small words as she gingerly took Piper's hand. "I'm sorry, I don't even know your names..."

Piper helped to pull Blake to her feet with astonishing ease, only reinforcing the fact that the Darklighter girl was of a seriously unhealthy build. "My name's Piper Halliwell. These are my sisters, Phoebe and Paige. We help innocents. That's our job."

"But..." Blake still seemed to be struggling to control her words. "Where will I stay? What about... What about the demons? What if..."

"How about we discuss this all somewhere a little brighter?" Paige suggested with a smile. "I hope you're not actually allergic to light or anything?"

Blake almost smiled back. She shook her head. "No. I just haven't seen the light in a long time."

Paige held out her hand, linking her other with Phoebe's. "Then hold on tight and we'll change that."

This time, Blake didn't even hesitate. She took Paige's hand and squeezed it firmly, in a way that she'd only ever done as a child. Piper then joined hands with Phoebe, completing the circle. Blake felt the ground disappear from beneath her feet as, for the first time in her life, she orbed away from her prison with not black, but pure white lights dancing across her vision.

**XXX**

**Author's Note!**

This happens to be a reeeally old story. And when I mean old I mean dating back to 2004, 2005 time. So roughly about ten years, ouch. I recently rediscovered this on some old discs and found I still liked the ideas behind it, even if the pace of the writing was totally cringing then. So I figured I'd try my hand with a complete revamp!

I've tried to re-write as little as I can manage, since I still want to keep as much of the main backbone as possible. I mostly just changed the dialogue and added more description and more filler. If anything reads a little awkwardly then it's likely part of the old one that I missed. You'd think re-writing something would be easier than writing something from scratch, but noooo...

Anyway, just a little on the ideas. Charmed was a huge part of my teeny years and season six was definitely the one that just hooked me right in! Darklighters always got a bad deal on the show, unsurprisingly, but I liked the idea of the Whitelighters having a complete opposite so I wanted to explore more with that.

This is obviously set in season six, not long after the episode Prince Charmed. I tried to stick to the original plotline as much as possible, but I've had to go with a few time skews to make this work how I want it to, which you'll probably notice as chapters go on. The main one will be that Jason doesn't leave for Hong Kong until slightly later. So eh, not many changes really.


	2. A Ray of Hope

Their unique circle of witches and Darklighter reappeared in the conservatory of Halliwell Manor. Blake actually had to squint to adjust her eyes to the sheer sunlight that was pouring in through the large open windows. This house was the exact opposite of her own. Everything was bright and open. The walls and furniture were stark white, yet everything was still kept clean and tidy. Blake couldn't help but wonder how much money this family must have behind them.

"So I've got a question," said Phoebe, breaking Blake out of her almost reverie. "How come you didn't freeze under Piper's power earlier?"

Blake regarded her uncertainly. "What do you mean?"

"The pot that you threw at us," Piper explained. "When I froze it, you should have frozen too."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I don't know," Blake confessed. "I've never met anyone with a power like that before."

"It was strange," Paige agreed. "It's worked on every other Darklighter we've come across."

"Oh, well, I..." Blake hesitated, unsure of how much she should share about herself. But the sisters were all watching her now curiously. And she couldn't deny that they'd given her the benefit of the doubt when nobody else would have. "I'm not actually a full Darklighter... My mom was a witch. Maybe that's why?"

"You're right. My power doesn't work on witches," Piper confirmed, suddenly sounding more interested. She sank onto one of the couches and gestured for Blake to do the same. "That also makes sense why you're not like other Darklighters. You must follow your witch side."

Blake shrugged and awkwardly perched herself on the edge of an armchair, very aware of the pristine piece of furniture beneath her dusty clothes. "I guess so. I don't really follow my mom in particular though. She wasn't a very good witch..."

"What was her name?" Phoebe asked, just as interested as Piper.

"Patience Wicker."

"Huh, another P," Paige commented.

"Not one I've heard of though," said Piper. "I guess there are still lines of witches that we don't know about... Do you remember your grandmother?"

Blake shook her head. "I never met her, but her name was Priscilla... Tracey, I think?"

"Hmm... I can't say I've heard of her either, but it's definitely the same pattern," Piper mused.

"Pattern?" Blake repeated, making it a question.

"Family tradition," Phoebe explained. "Every girl in our family has a name beginning with P."

"Oh..." Blake then realised what that meant they were considering. "Wait, you think we might be _related_?"

"It's a possibility," said Piper. "A lot of witches are related to one another somewhere down the line - that's probably how the magic stays strong. But the ones in your family don't sound familiar."

"Do you know of anyone further back?" Paige asked.

Blake frowned in concentration, trying to remember the old forgotten family tree that she'd found amongst her mother's things as a child. She'd certainly looked at it enough in the past, wondering if there had ever been any good witches somewhere back along her ancestry. "I don't know the first name of my great-grandmother... All that was written on our family tree was P. Bowen."

"Bowen?" Phoebe echoed, the name finally striking a chord of familiarity. "Hey, that was Prue's name in the past!"

"But according to our family tree, P. Bowen never married," Piper pointed out.

"It says on ours that she did. To somebody called Miller. I think," said Blake. She felt excited for the first time since she could even remember. That meant that these witches _were_ related to her - they had to be if they had the same name on their family tree. They even followed the same naming pattern. Maybe there was some good in her family after all. "So we really _are_ related. Aren't we?"

"Very distantly," replied Phoebe. "It would make your great-grandmother our great-grandmother's... cousin? I think? I wouldn't even know what label to put on that."

But Blake didn't care about labels. Somewhere along the line, these witches had the same blood as her. And they certainly didn't seem like bad people. For the last few years, one of Blake's biggest fears had been that she'd end up turning evil and becoming just like her parents. The idea still plagued her nightmares every night. But maybe now, she could still have hope.

"So that means there's a whole branch missing from our family tree," said Piper. The revelation didn't seem to be as surprising to the Halliwells. Blake guessed that they'd probably already come across plenty of other witches in their lives. And like Piper had said, most witches were related in some way.

"Well, it's never been entirely accurate, has it?" Phoebe added. "Paige wasn't even added to it until recently."

"We could always ask Leo to help us get it updated again," Paige suggested.

"No," Piper replied a little too quickly. "He's an Elder; I'm not going to bother him with something small like that. We'll do the research and we can fix it ourselves."

"You're gonna have to start seeing him more, Piper," Phoebe said gently. "He really has been trying lately. And you know we're going to have to ask him for advice right now anyway."

"I know, I know," Piper sighed. She turned back to Blake, who seemed a little awkward by the turn in conversation. "Sorry. Our family's a bit of a dysfunctional one."

"That's okay," said Blake quickly. She definitely knew a lot about dysfunctional families. "Um, our family tree should still be back at the house. I can get it for you if it'll help you with updating yours?"

Piper's expression softened slightly, touched by the simple gesture. The young Darklighter seemed like a completely different person now that she was away from the house. More uplifted. More normal. It was, of course, still very early days, but she had a feeling that Phoebe may have been right about Blake not having a bad bone in her body. Still, baby steps... Though she was empathetic enough to feel sympathy for her, Piper still knew better than to trust so easily.

"Thanks, but it's nothing urgent," she assured. "Right now, our priority is figuring out what we're going to do with you. I'm guessing you don't have a job or much money of your own?"

Blake shook her head. "I barely have anything. There wasn't even electricity or hot water at the house."

"Is the house under your name?" Phoebe questioned. "If we can find you a temporary place to stay, then you could get it put up for sale. It may need one heck of a cleaning job, but it's a big house - real estate are sure to snap it up."

But Blake suddenly started shaking her head more frantically. "I can't. I can't risk mortals living there. Demons still turn up there even now. It was my family home - people believe my parents still live there."

"What happened to them?" Phoebe asked, pressing to know more about the Darklighter's background.

"I don't know," Blake confessed. "I ran away when I was little. I only went back a few years ago, but by then, they'd both disappeared and the house was empty. I haven't seen them since the day I first left."

"Why would you go back if you ran away in the first place?" asked Paige.

"Because I didn't have anywhere else to go," said Blake simply. "I don't remember a whole lot from back then... But apparently, a couple found me wandering around and got in touch with social services. The same couple then came back one day to foster me themselves. I went to live with their family. But..."

"But you weren't happy?" Piper guessed.

"No, I mean, yes, of course I was happy! I practically grew up with them - it's the only time I remember actually _being_ happy..." Blake trailed off wistfully. "But as I got older, demons started to show up more and more. I don't know if my parents sent them or if they could somehow find me because I'm a Darklighter, but I couldn't risk anyone hurting my foster family. And I was scared what they'd think if they learnt the truth, so... I left. When I was eighteen. I went back to my parents' old home, because I didn't know where else to go. Nowhere else where I wouldn't put other mortals at risk."

"So that's why you've been there on your own all this time," Phoebe said slowly. "You didn't want to put anyone else in danger."

Blake nodded. "I can't change who I am, but I can at least stop it from affecting anyone else."

It was that which cemented Piper's decision. "Well, you won't have to worry about being alone anymore - you can stay here. At least until we can find you somewhere safe of your own."

Though she'd insisted earlier that she didn't want Blake in the house, Piper couldn't help but feel that maybe this was actually the best place for her. For now anyway. Unwanted visits from demons weren't exactly uncommon here. They could use crystals and have vanquishing potions at the ready to hopefully deter at least some of them. Wyatt had his force-field and there would be three witches and one, maybe two Whitelighters around - if she could swallow down some of the issues caused by her and Leo's divorce - to keep an eye on Blake until they were certain that she could be trusted.

Plus having a Darklighter on their side could certainly be beneficial in their aim to cross off any other potential threats to Wyatt. And if Blake really did turn out to have no interest in evil, like she said she did, then Piper didn't want to think that she hadn't done everything she could to help an innocent.

Blake's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

"There's a spare room at the club I run that you could maybe use later on," Piper continued, already formulating ideas. "But I'm guessing you won't want to be around lots of people yet if demons are still following you?"

Blake quickly shook her head. "No, I..."

"Maybe we could check the Book of Shadows and see if there's some sort of cloaking spell we could use," Phoebe suggested.

"Yeah, if there was a way to mask her signature, then no demons would be able to find her," Paige jumped in.

"Exactly what I was thinking," agreed Piper. "And if we do find something that works, then we could also maybe look at getting her a job somewhere..."

"Wait, wait!" Blake interrupted, recapturing their attention. "I'm grateful for the offer, but I'm sorry; I just can't stay here. In fact, I'm beginning to think that maybe I should just go back to the house after all."

"What are you talking about?" Paige frowned.

"I was a fool to think I could ever get away from there." Blake dropped her gaze to the immaculate white floor. "I really am grateful - you have no idea how much it means that you actually want to help me - but don't you get it? I can't be around people; it's just too dangerous. Even you. I can't repay you for your kindness by bringing danger to your home."

"Hence looking for a cloaking spell," Paige pointed out.

But Blake was shaking her head again. "But what happens until then? Or what if you can't find a spell like that? I'm sorry, but I should leave. Every second I'm here is a risk to your family."

"Oh, that's a new one; having our family at risk," Piper cut in pointedly. When Blake stared at her, confused, she added, "We fight demons almost every day, including in our own home. I'm sure that your presence won't make a largely noticeable difference to that."

Blake was taken aback by that. It wasn't an argument she'd expected. "Really?"

"Yeah, we're the Charmed Ones," Phoebe joined in. "It's kinda part of the package."

"The Charmed Ones?" Blake repeated in surprise. She'd heard of them before. Who hadn't? They were infamous amongst the magical world - to both good and bad alike.

"I take it you've heard of us," Piper guessed.

Of course, their stature didn't matter to Blake. What mattered was that they were willing to allow her into their home, in spite of the prejudice that she usually faced. "I have heard of your greatness, but of your goodness, I never knew," she quoted lightly.

"Hey, Harry Potter," Paige commented, recognising the quote.

"That's right!" For the first time, Blake actually smiled. The difference was quite astonishing - it lit up her entire face as that smile shone through all the dirt and dust.

"So as you can see, your being here won't put us in anymore danger than usual," Piper concluded. "And if any demons do turn up, I'm sure it'll help in having an extra set of powers to get rid of them."

"Yes, of course! I'll help. I'll help in any way I can," Blake insisted immediately. She realised then that this was it. She was out of that horrible house and she'd never have to live there again. And, even more amazingly, she wasn't alone anymore either. There were absolutely no words to express her gratitude and she found herself bowing her head to the Halliwells. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll do whatever I can for you."

Piper managed to keep the smile from her face. It seemed almost impossible to believe that this girl was actually a Darklighter, but even though she'd agreed to help, she couldn't let herself get completely taken in without knowing for certain that Blake could be trusted. "I'm glad to hear, because we are going to have to lay down some restrictions."

"Of course," Blake replied earnestly, still unable to believe this phenomenal hand of fate that she'd finally been dealt. "Anything."

"Well, firstly you have to understand that although we're allowing you to stay here, it doesn't mean that we trust you," Piper pointed out. "It's nothing personal, but we've been burned in the past - including by Darklighters - so we just have to be careful."

Blake nodded solemnly, trying not to look upset by that. She had to accept that she was part Darklighter and that she'd always be judged for it, no matter how nice some people might be. Plus it was a small price to pay in response for what they were giving her. "I understand."

"So we won't be leaving you in the manor unsupervised at any time," Piper continued. "The three of us have jobs, so we can't always be here, but if we aren't, then one of our Whitelighters will be."

Blake felt like one of those nodding dogs that her foster mother had used to have on the dash of her car. The idea of supervision didn't matter to her. If anything, at least it would mean she'd have company. Something she hadn't had for a long time. "Of course. That's fine."

"Also I have a one-year-old son," Piper added. "His name's Wyatt and I don't think I need to iterate how important he is to me. Under no circumstances are you to go anywhere near him without supervision."

"Got it," Blake agreed readily. She'd never had anything to do with babies before, so that was fine with her.

"And... I guess that's all," said Piper.

"...That's it?" Blake asked, surprised. She wasn't sure what she'd expected to hear, but she'd at least thought they'd come down on her much stricter than that. That she was only allowed downstairs or that she couldn't leave a room after a certain time... Something like that.

Piper looked amused. "I can give you a curfew if you'd like? Did you think I was going to give you a list of chores or something?"

"I don't know," Blake admitted. "But I'd be happy to do chores for you."

"God, no, we don't run that tight a ship," Piper laughed. "We're lucky if the manor even stays clean!"

From the current condition of the conservatory at least, Blake found that hard to believe. "I think your house is wonderful." Once again, she was very aware of getting dust on the lovely furniture. "Um. Well, it probably was before I showed up anyway..."

Piper looked sympathetic. "Paige, why don't you and Phoebe go with Blake back to her old house to help her collect her belongings? I'm assuming she'll have clothes and things that she'll need. Then show her where the bathroom is so she can wash up."

"Good idea," Paige enthused. "We'll give you a grand tour too."

Blake looked to Piper, as if she was asking if that was okay. Piper seemed to be the one who ran the house more - Blake was guessing that she must be the oldest sister - and since she had a young child, she was easily the one with the most reason to distrust her. Blake found that she wanted to earn that trust, at least some day.

Piper seemed to understand her unspoken question. "It'll only be a temporary thing for you to stay here, but still feel free to make yourself at home in the meantime."

_Home_. The word had become so foreign to Blake's ears that it would have been as dusty as her if it had had its own substance. It sent a delicious tingle down her spine. The manor wasn't actually going to be her home as much as temporary lodgings, but it was still that stepping stone that she'd so sorely needed for the last few years.

"What about you?" Phoebe asked their older sister. "You're not gonna come too?"

"No, I'm gonna see how Wyatt's doing," replied Piper. "Maybe make the most of spending some time together whilst things are still fairly quiet."

"Together, huh?" Paige caught on. Leo had come to collect Wyatt for the day earlier that morning. Maybe it wasn't just her son who Piper suddenly wanted to spend some quality time with.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's not make a big deal out of this, okay?" Piper dismissed the comment.

Since their divorce, Piper had tried to avoid seeing Leo whenever she could help it. Something which certainly wasn't helped by Leo's more recent attempts to try and reconcile some of what they'd lost. She'd thought it would be easier on Leo and his being away from home if they didn't keep blurring the lines between them, but apparently her ex husband wasn't in the same mind. Not anymore anyway.

And after hearing just a little of Blake's disastrous family life, Piper was suddenly feeling the need to try and make amends with her own.

"No deal at all," Phoebe agreed happily, eager to see that her sister may have changed her mind after all. "You go. And we'll go. Give Wyatt a big kiss from his Aunt Phoebe."

Piper confirmed that she would before migrating to the kitchen. Blake heard her soft call of, "Leo!" as the door was closing behind her. She was curious to follow, never having met a Whitelighter before, but Paige lightly touched her shoulder - her other hand already linked with Phoebe's. "Ready?"

Blake turned away from the kitchen door. "Ready."

They orbed out together - Blake disappearing into a swirl of black lights, Paige and Phoebe into white. They appeared back in the abandoned house in the same upstairs room that they'd found Blake in before. Blake retrieved a large duffel bag from inside the bottom of the broken wardrobe - the same one that she'd used when she'd left this house the first time - and quickly stuffed it with a meagre selection of clothes that hadn't fared much better from the dust. Paige and Phoebe realised that this dingy room must have once been her bedroom.

They jumped in to help as she moved on to add several tatty books, a ring-binder, an outdated MP3 player and a mains charger that was so beaten up that half of the wire was showing through tears in the casing. Even after adding the final item - a patchwork teddy bear that looked pristine compared to everything else she owned - her bag was still pitifully empty.

"Cute," Paige commented as she packed the teddy bear, not sure what else to say about the Darklighter's lack of personal belongings.

Blake gave her a small, sheepish smile. "I'm not really a fan of teddy bears, but my foster parents bought me this when I was eleven, so I always kept it. I couldn't bear to leave it behind. It's the same with my books - they're all from my foster family too."

Paige couldn't help but notice that Blake kept referring to them as her 'foster family'. She'd been fostered too when she was young, but she'd always accepted her adoptive parents as family. She wondered why Blake didn't seem to, but she didn't ask. It was too personal a question. Maybe another time.

However, Blake seemed to notice that Paige was watching her oddly. "What is it?" she asked uncertainly.

Oh well, or now could be as good a time as any. "I just noticed that you keep referring to them as your foster family," Paige said hesitantly. "I was wondering if you ever called them just family?"

Blake looked surprised by the question. She took several moments to answer. "It's not that I didn't accept them or anything... They felt more like my real family than my actual parents ever did. I told myself that I _was_ part of their family. I even took their name - Rodriguez isn't actually mine. But I just knew that I'd always be so different to them. I'd never be normal, no matter how much I wanted it."

Blake hadn't meant to go into quite so much detail, but the words and emotions just seemed to keep spilling out before she could stop them. "I guess I was just scared to let them know the real me. I was afraid of what they'd think if they knew the whole truth. I never meant to keep them at a distance. It just sort of happened."

Paige listened to every word solemnly. When she laid a hand on Blake's shoulder again, it was much more firmly than before. "If it's any consolation, I think that's just a natural feeling for anyone who's fostered, not just a unique Darklighter like yourself. Sometimes distancing yourself is just easier than accepting."

"But you don't have to worry about that with us," Phoebe added gently. It wasn't just Blake's words that she'd heard - it was her feelings too. And feelings that deep just couldn't be faked in any way. "If anyone's abnormal, we are."

"Yeah, you'll fit right in with our family," Paige teased lightly.

They were trying to cheer her up. Blake couldn't remember the last time somebody had tried to cheer her up. Flashes of memory flickered through her mind as she tried to recall that feeling. Sophie Grennan calling her a freaky Goth kid in the lunch hall, sulking outside the school gates by herself, Pauli insisting he'd steal one of the frogs from the biology lab and put it in Sophie's locker as revenge, Joey promising to detour them to KFC on the way home, but that they couldn't tell Ma or she'd scold them for spoiling their dinner...

Blake actually managed a small laugh. The memory made her happy yet sad all at the same time. But it did help her realise one thing. She'd been a fool to think she'd always been alone. She'd had a family that had genuinely cared about her. And now she had these sisters - these kind-hearted sisters who knew exactly what she was, yet they were still willing to look past that and take her under their wing. What right did she have to complain?

She turned the laugh into a bold smile and faced both sisters. "Sounds good to me. I'm ready - let's go."


	3. Mixed Impressions

After they returned to the manor, Paige gave Blake the grand tour, as promised. She walked her through the living room, the dining room and the kitchen, where she also let her peek through the door down into the basement. Neither of them were particularly interested in going down into the dark and the damp. Blake then followed Paige upstairs as she showed her the different bedrooms, Wyatt's nursery, the bathroom, the laundry room and the way up to the attic.

Blake paid close attention to everything she was told. It was a big house - she wanted to remember where everything was. The attic was really something else though. It was huge and seemed to have a strange presence about it. Blake could practically feel the sensations crawling across her skin.

"It feels strange in here," she commented. "Not bad... Just strange."

"Well, we've had a lot of summonings and vanquishes up here," Paige explained. "You must be sensitive to it. I wonder if that's from your witch side or your Darklighter side."

Blake shrugged. It wasn't something she'd experienced before. "Beats me." She approached the far side of the room where a thick, leather-bound book was resting on its own pedestal. A strange, three-pointed symbol was embossed on the cover. "What's this? Is it like some kind of Bible?"

"More like an encyclopaedia," Paige replied, watching interestedly. She was curious to see what would happen if Blake tried to touch it. The Book of Shadows repelled anyone untrustworthy. What would it do to Blake?

Blake actually looked like she was going to reach for it, but at the last second, she seemed to change her mind. Paige didn't try encouraging her. If she pushed her into it and the Book wouldn't let her touch it, then it would only make her feel worse. Maybe that was a test they could try later on when she'd settled in more. It was obvious enough that she already had a complex about her Darklighter heritage.

With the tour over, Paige directed her back down to the bathroom and showed her how to work the shower and where the clean towels were. Paige promised that nobody would come in, so Blake obligingly left the door closed but unlocked. Then she was finally left alone in this strange new house.

Blake stripped off her clothes and tried to brush the worst of the dust off over the bath, using the handle of a loofah brush to give them a good beating. She felt it would be somewhat counter-productive to wash up only to get back into dusty clothes. She switched the shower head on first to leave the water running for a few minutes. She hadn't had any hot water back at her parents' old house, but it had still always seemed to warm up at least a little after it had been running for a while.

Of course, she did this out of habit and didn't factor in that the Halliwells certainly had hot water running through their pipes. When she climbed into the shower, the burning water scalded her skin. She shrieked instinctively and jumped back out, almost slipping over as some of the water splashed onto the floor tiles. She managed to catch herself on the sink, hoping that nobody had heard her. How embarrassing that she couldn't even take a shower like a normal person. She made sure to readjust the water temperature before she got back in.

Oh, man, that felt _so good_. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had an actually hot shower. She could already feel some of the tension releasing from her muscles as the burning water pounded against her back, loosening her joints that had become stiff from lack of use. Also when was the last time she'd used shampoo? Shampoo was a luxury that she'd forgotten whilst at the old house.

So now she lathered and soaped her head and body until the water ran clean of dust. She was a little embarrassed at how much dust had actually come from her hair alone. She hoped that the Halliwells hadn't just taken pity on her because they'd been that disgusted by the state they'd found her in. She'd always tried to stay clean - or hygienic at least. Really, she had. The dust had just been inescapable in that dingy, broken house.

Once she felt like she was the cleanest she'd ever been, Blake reluctantly shut off the lovely water and stepped out from the cubicle. She could have stayed in there forever, without a care in the world. For once in her life. She towelled herself dry with a great fluffy towel that Paige had given her. Even the towels here were perfectly white. The towels at her foster family's house had all been tinged pink after her foster mother had left one of Joey's red socks in the washing machine. At her parents' old house, the towels had just been grey and horrible.

She gave her clothes another quick beating to get rid of anymore dust before getting back into them. She hadn't felt so alive in years. It was amazing the effect that one hot shower had had on her. Despite the furious towelling down, her hair was still damp, but that was okay. If she blow-dried her hair, it tended to dry like a brush. Plus she was certain that even with damp hair, she was now looking much more acceptable than when she'd first gotten here.

She felt a little nervous walking through the manor on her own, almost like even she thought she shouldn't be trusted. She was relieved to hear Paige and Phoebe's voices coming from the kitchen. Though as she opened the door, they both abruptly stopped talking. It sent a pang of rejection through her. It had been a while since she'd had people around to talk about her behind her back or suddenly shut up the moment she walked into a room. She'd forgotten how awful it felt.

It had mostly been from normal mortal girls who had judged her for being too skinny or for the beauty spot on her cheek or for liking different music to them. But at school, she'd also endured a different kind of bullying - one that had scarred her confidence much deeper. Blake had never had much to do with other magical beings, besides other Darklighters and demons, until her foster parents had enrolled her at high school.

There had been a small group of witches and a half-Leprechaun who hung around together at school, clearly trying to live their lives as normal amongst mortals, in spite of their magical backgrounds. But when they'd first seen Blake, they'd known exactly what she was and had gone out of their way to make it known that she wasn't welcome at the same school as them or normal humans. She was dangerous, untrustworthy... She was evil.

Blake had never forgotten that. It had made her despise who she was. And now, seeing the guilty looks on Paige and Phoebe's faces as she stood awkwardly in the doorway, those feelings suddenly came flooding back in full force.

Paige was the first to break the silence, seeing the dejected look on Blake's face. "Oh. Sorry, we were just trying to decide which of us gets to tell our Whitelighter about you."

"Oh!" Blake felt relief rush through her, grateful that they weren't having second thoughts about her after all. Then she realised what that must mean. "You don't think your Whitelighter's going to like me." She said it as a fact, rather than a question.

"He's just neurotic; I wouldn't take it personally," Phoebe assured her. "He doesn't like anyone he doesn't know."

"Which is why we were gonna flip a coin for it," added Paige. "Because whoever tells him is gonna get bitched at."

"Ah... Sorry about that," Blake apologised.

Paige just laughed. "Don't worry; Chris's whining is nothing new. Trust me."

"Anyway, you feel better after your shower?" Phoebe asked the Darklighter girl.

"So much better," replied Blake sincerely. "I don't think I've ever felt so clean!"

Paige laughed. "If you like, we can throw the rest of your clothes in the laundry and get them all cleaned up for you."

"Oh. You don't have to go to any trouble or anything..." said Blake awkwardly.

"It's alright. Laundry is Piper's job." Paige winked at her.

As if on cue, Piper suddenly appeared in the room amidst white orbs. A baby was held securely in her arms, hugging her chest. Piper's expression was momentarily unreadable until she caught sight of Blake. "Wow, I almost wouldn't have recognised you. Feel better?"

Blake nodded. "Yes, thank you." She continued to stare at Piper, seemingly confused. "I didn't realise you could orb too."

"Oh, no, that was a Whitelighter who sent me back here," explained Piper.

"Apportation," Paige added. She'd been reading up more on Whitelighter powers to see which of them she was able to utilise as only half Whitelighter.

"Appor...what?"

"Apportation," Paige repeated. "The ability to transport objects or other beings between planes."

"Someone's been doing their homework," Phoebe commented, moving in to steal Wyatt from his mother for a cuddle.

"Well, I figured knowing more about Whitelighter abilities might help us pinpoint what Wyatt's likely to gain as he gets older," said Paige.

"Good thinking."

"So he's not a witch?" asked Blake, still eyeing the baby that Phoebe was now holding.

"Half witch, half Whitelighter," Piper replied.

"Like me," Paige added brightly.

A look of dawning crossed Blake's face as she finally realised the meaning behind the red-haired witch's mystery power. "_That's_ why you can orb!"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you'd know it to be a power specific to just Whitelighters and Darklighters."

"So how did it go up there?" Phoebe asked Piper, unable to keep the question to herself any longer. Ever since Leo had become an Elder, Piper had just been so miserable. Besides demon hunting, she hadn't even left the manor much.

"Oh, you know..." said Piper vaguely, starting to needlessly tidy around the kitchen, purposely not looking at any of them. "It was... nice. Then, of course, some other Whitelighters showed up with their own problem, so Leo asked me to bring Wyatt back home."

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Phoebe sympathised sadly. Piper couldn't have been up there for even two hours.

"Well, what else could you expect from an Elder?" said Piper lightly. "He said he'll try and make it up to me later on, but I'm not gonna get my hopes up too much."

"Just don't give up on it," Paige joined in. "I'm sure even Elders get time off sometime."

"I'll hold my breath." Piper absently stacked and re-stacked the open mail that was still sitting on the worktop, revealing a brilliantly shiny athamé with a bronze handle that had been hidden underneath. She picked it up gingerly. "Hey, isn't this the athamé we used to kill those reptile demons?"

"Ah. Yeah, that was me," Phoebe confessed, abashed.

"Then what is it doing lying here in the kitchen?"

Phoebe looked sheepish. "Well, I was using it as a letter opener for all the mail I was getting for my column..."

"But we have perfectly good _normal_ knives right here!" Piper exclaimed exasperatedly, banging a hand against the cutlery drawer. "Or better yet, you can buy a real letter opener for a couple of bucks from Walmart."

"I know, but it's just so pretty and shiny," Phoebe insisted, wistfully eyeing the blade in Piper's hand.

"Nuh uh, I don't want any great loves for blades in this house," Piper ascertained, always ready to accept the possibility of there being something magical afoot. "You remember what happened with me and Excalibur. Plus I don't want anything sharp lying around the house. Not now that Wyatt's been starting to crawl _and_ orb."

"Sorry, Piper, I really didn't think," Phoebe apologised guiltily, making to pass Wyatt over to Paige. "Here, I'll go and put it back in the attic..."

"Wait, I'll do it!" Blake cut in hastily. Maybe a little too hastily. All heads turned towards her, somewhat suspiciously. She'd been following the conversation awkwardly, knowing nothing of Piper's romantic background. What she did know, however, was that she wanted to make herself as useful as possible, no matter how menial the task. "I mean... I know you guys don't really trust me right now, but I wanna help out as much as I can, even for small jobs like this. Seeing as you're letting me stay here, I wanna try and be more useful where I can."

She realised that she'd been starting to ramble a little. She probably shouldn't have started the eager and willing approach over a dagger. She finished lamely with, "And, um, maybe I should try orbing around the house a little more."

"I think you're right," Phoebe was the first to agree - whether it was from her empathic abilities or just basic intuition, the others didn't know. "It's not like we can expect to keep an eye on you _all_ the time."

"And I doubt you're going to cause trouble with all of us in the house, right?" Paige said lightly.

Blake shook her head quickly. "I don't want to cause _any_ trouble!"

"Alright," Piper conceded slowly, once again putting her faith in the judgement of her two sisters. She held out the athamé. "There's a chest underneath the window - you can just put it in there."

Blake took the athamé and clutched it tightly. The handle was warm, like it had been sitting atop the stove. Though it was only a small gesture, it was still a tiny display of faith. Blake was willing to take whatever faith she could get. "Thank you," she said with more meaning than the others probably realised and orbed out, leaving a flurry of black orbs in her wake.

She reappeared successfully in the attic. Well, that was a good start. She'd never had to orb many places before - she needed to start getting a handle on the directional side of it again. As she turned, her eyes seeking out the chest that Piper had described, she realised that there was somebody else in the room. A tall guy with dark hair was standing beside the pedestal carrying the sisters' special Book, a look of surprise on his face. Blake felt an alien, protective emotion sweep through her. A demon. Attacking her new home.

The guy seemed to come to his senses just as she did. With a purposeful sweep of his hand, he sent the wooden chest that Blake had been looking for barrelling across the floor towards her. Blake orbed out of the way, where it hit the wall behind her with a loud crash, and materialised on the opposite side of the room. The guy was slower to react this time. Without giving him the chance to make another move, Blake threw out her hand, the force of her telekinetic power driving him back against the wall and holding him there.

With another wave of her hand, the dagger that she'd been holding flew across the room, stopping only to press against the guy's throat. "What are you doing here?" she demanded. She was determined to protect this home. The sisters had been more than kind to her, when they'd had every right to distrust her as much as the next person.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," the guy replied, his breathing quickening as the blade dug a little deeper into his skin.

Blake hesitated, thrown off by his answer. Why would a demon care why she was here? She changed her tack. "Who are you?"

"What do you mean who am I? Who are _you_?" the guy protested. He'd never been questioned by a demon before. And he normally would have orbed out of a situation like this, but the invisible force against his chest was keeping him from accessing his powers.

Again, Blake paused. If he was really invading Halliwell Manor, then why would he have such an issue over who was doing the questioning? "I'll ask again," she said, trying to sound in control. "_Who are you_?"

"Chris Perry," the guy was forced to respond as the athamé wavered dangerously against his skin. "I'm a Whitelighter."

A Whitelighter? Hadn't Paige mentioned the name Chris earlier? Did that mean this was the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter? Blake couldn't be sure, not without confirmation. A niggling voice at the back of her head prayed that it wasn't - not now that she was currently holding him at knife point... She relaxed her hand a little, allowing the blade to lower slightly. She crossed the room and took the dagger out of the air, still holding it to the supposed Whitelighter's throat, but not as closely as before.

"Are you lying?" she questioned, watching his eyes carefully. If there was one thing she'd learnt about from growing up amongst Darklighters and demons, it was lies. She always knew when somebody was lying. Eyes couldn't lie like the rest of the face could.

"What? No!" Chris protested, getting more confused by the second. "Seriously, what do you want from me?"

The baffled look on his face seemed to be genuine. Plus he sounded just as clueless as he looked. Blake was definitely starting to feel that she'd made a horrible mistake. "I don't want anything..."

Before Chris could even process that, Piper and Paige suddenly burst into the room. They'd heard the crash from Chris sending the chest flying across the attic and had come running. Phoebe followed them shortly after, still holding Wyatt protectively to her. They hadn't really known what they'd find, but they certainly hadn't expected to see Blake assaulting their Whitelighter.

"Hey hey hey, what's going on here?" Piper cried.

"She's a demon!" Chris burst out at the same time as Blake protested, "I thought he was a demon!"

Piper sighed. This was going to take some explaining. "Wait a minute, neither of you are demons! Blake, this is our Whitelighter Chris, so would you mind lowering the athamé?"

Oh god, she _had_ been right. Blake threw both her hands up in a peaceful gesture, fumbling and almost dropping the athamé. As soon as she did, Chris found that he could move again. "I am _so_ sorry!"

Chris ignored her apology, his attention on Piper. "Who is this?"

"This is Blake Rodriguez," Piper explained calmly. "She's going to be staying here for a little while whilst we try and help her out with a cloaking spell."

"A cloaking spell?" Chris repeated. "So she's not a demon?"

"No." Piper was really tempted to just leave it at that, but she knew that the truth would come out sooner or later so she might as well just get it over with. "...She's a Darklighter."

"_What_?" Chris looked incredulous. "Are you kidding me? You're letting a Darklighter stay _here_?!"

"Don't give me that look. We're not stupid; we thought this through a lot before deciding anything. We don't believe that Blake's evil at all."

"Oh, so she's a good Darklighter? That makes it all better," said Chris sarcastically. "And her running around up here with an athamé without your knowledge whilst you're all downstairs is part of her good side, right?"

"Actually, we didknow where she was, if you don't mind," Piper pointed out haughtily. "In fact, we were the ones who sent her up here. She was putting the athamé away for us."

"Great. So you let a Darklighter into the house and then you armed her as well."

Blake was tempted to point out that she didn't need any help to arm herself - as a Darklighter, she could just summon the crossbow that she'd only used twice in her life before. But she reminded herself that she wanted to be _non_-threatening, so she wisely bit her tongue. This Whitelighter already didn't seem very impressed with her being here. She didn't need to make things worse. Plus Piper seemed to be handling him just fine.

"Chris, you were the one who sent us after Darklighters in the first place," Piper reminded him.

"Yeah, so you only really have yourself to blame," Paige agreed.

"I sent you out after Darklighters to vanquish them, not to... adopt one!" Chris exclaimed.

Piper repressed another sigh. She could see this wasn't going to be resolved so easily. "Chris, why don't you come downstairs with me? I'll fill you in on everything."

Chris stared back stubbornly before reluctantly conceding. "Fine." He followed Piper out of the attic with a quick backwards glance at Blake. It wasn't a friendly one.

Blake groaned once he'd left. She should have known the charity would have to end somewhere. She'd been lucky to find _three_ people who were willing to hear her side. She shouldn't have expected anyone else to just join in so easily. "I really screwed that one up, didn't I?"

"I wouldn't say that," said Phoebe, but she sounded uncertain.

"I didn't know who he was. He was up here when I orbed in," Blake recounted. "I really thought he was a demon - I was just trying to help protect you guys."

"Don't worry about it; we kinda figured that anyway," Phoebe reassured with a smile. In truth, she was quite touched by the younger girl's actions. "I'm sure Chris will come around once Piper's explained the situation."

"And even if he doesn't, then there's still nothing to worry about," Paige added. "We rarely agree with Chris. And we definitely don't actually do what he tells us to very often."

Blake couldn't help but smile at that. She even tried her hand at a joke. "In that case, maybe I'll fit right in then."

**XXX**

**Author's Note!**

Just a heads up that this will probably my last update for a little while! I decided to take part in NaNoWriMo this year (god knows why I keep giving myself MORE writing to do!) so I've really gotta be good and dedicate all of my writing time to this one!


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